Saturday, January 12, 2013

A group of investors from the United Kingdom is seeking damages and compensation of more than US$30 million (TT$200 million) from the Tobago House of Assembly for an alleged unlawful and illegal action in a failed land deal.

According to local media reports the investors are claiming that they had initiated a deal with the THA to acquire the Culloden Estate in northwest Tobago to build a hotel resort.

However, they say the THA reneged on the deal after giving the group the impression everything was going smoothly with respect to acquiring the land and investing significantly in the planned development.

They say Tobago would have had such spin-off benefits like employment, development of the island and foreign investment from the UK and Europe. The reports say attorneys for the investors are expected to arrive in Tobago on Monday to try to resolve the matter quickly.

The State has also given the THA a deadline of next Monday to respond.

The investors have sent Atorney General Anand Ramlogan a letter of intent to recover the lost money. Ramlogan subsequently hired senior attorney Donna Prowell as lead counsel in the matter.

She wrote the THA Thursday seeking a report on the matter.

The media reports say legal documents name the investors as the owners of the Culloden Reef, who were seeking to purchase the Culloden Estate in Tobago to develop a five-star hotel. However, they never received the licences or any explanation from the THA on why their application for licences did not receive consideration.

The letter to Chief Secretary Orville London noted that the investors are making the claim against the Government arising from “alleged and unlawful and illegal actions of the THA.”

It also stated that the THA frustrated the investors in their bid to acquire the estate. It said, "They allege further that the THA has made a ten per cent deposit for the acquisition of the Culloden Estate, the closure of the sale to the THA has been delayed by a pending high court action."

Prowell's letter added, "The investors concluded that the THA’s failure to consider the application was deliberate and motivated by self-interest. The investors have expressed the view they may be victims of a policy to block the acquisition of Tobago land by foreigners.”

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JAI PARASRAM retired from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on Nov. 30, 2013 after a quarter of a century at the Corporation. He was a member of the team that inaugurated Newsworld, the CBC's 24-hour cable news service. He produced and edited the first newscast for the service on July 31, 1989. He was a Producer on the team that won a GEMINI AWARD for the coverage of the SwissAir disaster in Nova Scotia in 1998. Jai left Newsworld in 1998 and established Jyoti Communication. His main projects have involved training journalists, program development for radio and television, corporate imaging, event management and media projects for clients in the Caribbean, Canada and the United States. Jai returned to the CBC in 2003 and worked with the online service CBC.ca until his retirement. Jai's career began in his native Trinidad in 1972. He has worked mostly in television, as a reporter, editor, producer, interviewer, news anchor and executive producer. He has won several awards for excellence in journalism and broadcasting. Jai, who is also a documentary producer, holds a Master of Journalism degree (MJ) from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.